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Susan
Young • Helen Breen
 Susan
Young is a master teacher of vocal technique. Former colleague
and Metropolitan Opera bass-baritone Justino Diaz says, “I
have known Susan Young for the better part of 20 years. During
that time we have sung together and I have heard many of her students
and the excellent results she has invariably achieved. I have always
been impressed by her knowledge, feeling, and ability to communicate
with her students.”
As a distinguished musician, music educator, and performer,
Ms. Young founded Vocal Spa to teach the core skills of correctly
energized singing to singers of all types of repertory: opera,
musicals, and popular songs. She prizes the uniqueness of
each person’s vocal potential, whether that person
is a beginner or a professional. It is Ms. Young’s
joy to share the adventure of singing with her students.
Susan Young’s gift for teaching voice is recognized
by her professional peers and is evident in the successes
of her students. According to music critic Dr. James McCoy, “Susan’s
students have proved themselves not only on the concert scene
here but by the fact that she has had 20 voice students compete
in the District and Regional Auditions for the Metropolitan
Opera and currently has 5 former students singing professionally
in New York and abroad.”
Susan Young holds a bachelor’s degree in Music Education
from Peabody Conservatory and a master’s degree in
Music in Voice Performance from Indiana University. She worked
as a teaching assistant to opera legend Eileen Farrell at
Indiana University and sang in the school’s opera productions,
while coaching undergraduate voice students. Ms. Young has
performed as a soloist throughout North America and Europe,
and in her own cabaret show in New York in 2005.
In a review, conductor Kenneth Kiesler praised Ms. Young’s
abilities as a concert singer: “Her performance of
the Mahler Symphony No. 4 was sublime . . . Her understanding
and sensitivity was given expression with a wide variety
of colors. It was the kind of performance which resonates
in the listener long afterwards . . . Her countenance lit
the stage in the performance.”
 Ms. Young is equally at home with popular music. Music critic
Donald Thompson observed: “As a singer she has shown
herself to be extremely capable across the entire spectrum
of what singers do in real life, from heavy opera to light
popular songs; the only things I have not heard her do are
rap and blues, and she could probably do these with the same
admirable level of skill and style.”
Ms. Young was Professor of Voice and Vocal Literature at
the Puerto Rico Conservatory of Music for 16 years and has
taught vocal technique in music schools in Italy, Mexico,
Puerto Rico, and New York. Currently, she maintains studios
both in New York City and Mexico City.
Ms. Young intimately understands the artistic journey a
singer must make to free the voice for the natural expression
of song. In founding Vocal Spa, she wants to help others
make this journey. vocalspa@gmail.com
 Helen
Breen, a longtime student
of the vocal arts, is also a publishing executive with three
decades of experience in developing programs and materials
designed to enhance learning and creativity. In this role,
she has led design and production teams in the creation of
more than 2,000 products for national and international education
markets. She brings to Vocal Spa her personal love of singing,
her commitment to helping others rediscover its joys, and
her organizational skills in building teams and resources
to enable students to fulfill their goals.
As a performer, Ms. Breen has participated in more than
300 Gilbert and Sullivan performances throughout the United
States and in concerts in New York City with companies including
the New York Gilbert and Sullivan Players. She is currently
producing a CD anthology of songs from World War I. This
project, the realization of a dream, involves researching
the artists, instruments, and arrangements of the time in
order to perform the songs in a style true to both the period
and to her own vocal gifts.
Through Vocal Spa, Ms. Breen hopes to encourage other singers
to express the communicative power of their own unique voices.
As Director of Development, Ms. Breen envisions Vocal Spa
as a flexible resource center that will help all types of
singers discover the natural projection of their uninhibited
voices. All singers are welcome and all voices are appreciated. helen@vocalspa.com
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